Community Corner

Damage From Sandy: $84 Million in Ocean City

An interactive map, produced by NJ Spotlight, breaks down insurance costs by town following Hurricane Sandy.

An interactive map produced by New Jersey Spotlight and published late last week provides a complete breakdown of every insurance claim paid in New Jersey since Hurricane Sandy by town, giving further insight into the losses from the late-October storm.  

Information from color-coded map was compiled using the most recent data from the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance (DOBI). The totals combine claims from flood insurance and residential, commercial, auto, marine and other insurance policies.

Based on the most recent data, Ocean City incurred $84,375,516 in losses with about $76,315,117 already paid. A total of 4,980 claims were filed with 3,452 paid and 1,208 closed without payment.

Find out what's happening in Ocean Cityfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

To view the map, click here.

Towns with minimal losses — those with under $200,000 in paid out claims — are represented by a light yellow color. Towns that have suffered more than $25 million in losses, which includes most of the state's coastal communities are shown in mahogany.

Find out what's happening in Ocean Cityfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

According to the report, the total cost of insurance claims paid to New Jersey residents and business owners following losses incurred during Hurricane Sandy is expected to reach at least $7.5 billion.

As of the end of March, individuals and business owners filed a total of 516,326 claims. In the five months following Sandy, 90 percent of the claims have been paid.

Currently, insurers have paid $6.1 billion in claims, including $2.9 billion for flood damage, according to the DOBI data. The next highest total is residential claims, which currently total more than $1.4 billion in New Jersey.

While coastal communities suffered the most significant damage during Sandy, the area with the largest losses includes densely populated areas along the Hackensack River and Meadowlands.

In all, six areas had more than $100 million in losses. In addition to the area listed above, Toms River, Newark South Station, Point Pleasant, Long Beach, and Newark's Ironbound district each suffered more than $100 million in losses due to the storm.

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